The permanent representative of Russia to the IAEA warned of the return of nuclear tests around the world and threatened with an appropriate response from Moscow should this happen. Mikhail Ulyanov, quoted by the Russian newspaper Kommersant, stressed the importance of countries with nuclear weapons respecting voluntary national moratoriums.
© Lusa
15/11/2026
by
Lusa
O russia's permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today warned of the return of nuclear tests around the world and threatened with an appropriate response from Moscow should this happen.
“It is essential that these countries [with nuclear weapons] strictly respect their voluntary national moratoriums,” Mikhail Ulyanov told the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
The Russian diplomat admitted that it is “too optimistic” to dismiss absolutely the return of nuclear tests.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin said, Ulyanov said that if the United States of America or any other country carries out nuclear tests, Russia “would also have to adopt appropriate and proportionate countermeasures”.
In November 2023, Russia repealed the ratification of the Total Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a United Nations instrument designed to ban all nuclear explosions, and ensured that, despite this, it will not carry out nuclear tests if the United States also refrains from doing so.
The USSR conducted its last nuclear test on 24 October 1990 in the Arctic Polygon of Nova Zembla, with eight loads with a power of 70 kilotons.
The CTBT, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 September 1996, was signed by 188 countries, including Russia, which ratified it on 30 June 2000.
Countries like the United States, China, Iran and Israel have never ratified it, while India, Pakistan, North Korea and Syria have not signed it.